The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of 24 raw materials rose 0.9 percent to 663.96 in New York, the second straight increase. Natural gas led the advance, while silver and cotton declined.
NATURAL GAS: Natural gas futures gained for a second day on Friday in New York on speculation that stockpiles would not reach capacity before winter weather boosts heating demand.
US inventories rose by 67 billion cubic feet last week to 3.496 trillion, below the five-year average increase for the week of 73 billion, a report by the US Department of Energy showed on Thursday. Natural gas for October delivery rose US$0.088, or 3.1 percent, to settle at US$2.885 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The futures declined 2 percent this week and 3.5 percent this year.
CRUDE OIL: Oil advanced as optimism that the US bank stimulus would revive the global economy pared crude’s biggest weekly decline in more than three months.
NYMEX crude oil for November delivery increased US$0.47, or 0.5 percent, to settle at US$92.89 a barrel, the first gain in five days. The October contract expired at US$91.87 on Thursday. The front-month price is down 6.2 percent this week, the biggest drop since June 1.
Brent oil for November settlement climbed US$1.39, or 1.3 percent, to end the session at US$111.42 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold futures rose for the fifth straight week, capping the longest rally since February, as monetary stimulus by central banks boosted demand for the metal as a store of value.
Gold futures for December delivery increased 0.4 percent to settle at US$1,778 an ounce on the COMEX in New York. Prices rose 0.3 percent this week, the fifth straight gain and the longest rally since early February.
Silver futures for December delivery fell 0.1 percent to US$34.638 an ounce in New York.
NYMEX platinum futures for October delivery added 0.8 percent to US$1,637.60 an ounce. Palladium futures for December delivery gained 1.6 percent to US$671.55 an ounce.
BASE METALS: Copper futures rose the most in a week on speculation that European officials would unveil a bailout plan for Spain as soon as next week, easing concerns that metal demand would ebb.
Copper futures for December delivery advanced 0.8 percent to close at US$3.789 a pound on the Comex in New York, the biggest gain for a most-active contract since Sept. 14. The metal, down 1.1 percent this week, has climbed 10 percent this year.
On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months climbed 0.1 percent to US$8,281.50 a tonne.
Zinc, lead, tin, aluminum and nickel also gained.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip assembly and testing service provider, yesterday said it would boost equipment capital expenditure by up to 16 percent for this year to cope with strong customer demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Aside from AI, a growing demand for semiconductors used in the automotive and industrial sectors is to drive ASE’s capacity next year, the Kaohsiung-based company said. “We do see the disparity between AI and other general sectors, and that pretty much aligns the scenario in the first half of this year,” ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu (吳田玉) told an
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